Loving others’ pets should not be mandatory

Why is it that in Southwest Colorado you have to deal with all these people who think it is mandatory for you to love their dogs? You walk down the streets downtown, and you end up with one in your crotch at least every other block. You get on the river trail, and, of the total number of dogs you get to greet, maybe half are on leashes, and you get to find out all the reasons they are more “family” than the owners’ children.

You go to a lake or river to fish, and, yep, the place you pick to fish is better served as a location for the pets to learn to retrieve and swim. It matters not what you were actually doing there before they introduce you to the stick landing in the water right where you happened to cast. If you shell out some extra bucks to fish on Southern Ute tribal ground where dogs are not allowed, someone will bring a dog without a leash and find multiple reasons that all the other rules are pertinent, even though he or she has a pet that is outside of the law.

Then, if you end up in the hospital, you are subject to visits from a therapy pet, without any option to decline until the animal has breached the door to your hospital room. Whether you have allergies to pets or may even be a victim of an animal mauling is insignificant, you need to have someone’s pet in your room to heal.

Whatever happened to the right to enjoy downtown, nature, or even the chance to heal, without having to love someone else’s pet? It’s not that I do not like animals, but I would rather not have to put up with yours.